Rice Women Ranked for First Time in School History on the AP Top 25

NEW YORK (AP) — Buoyed by the second-longest winning streak in the country, Rice entered The Associated Press women's basketball poll for the first time in school history.

The Owls have won 15 straight games and are ranked 25th in Monday's poll.

Baylor remained the top team in the country, garnering 26 of the 28 first-place votes from the national media panel. Oregon moved up to second, getting the other two No. 1 ballots. UConn was third, while Louisville slipped to fourth after losing to Miami on Sunday. The Hurricanes made the biggest jump, moving up six spots to 14th.

Notre Dame was fifth. Mississippi State, Stanford, Maryland, North Carolina State and Iowa rounded out the top 10.

Drake joined the rankings at No. 24, while Rutgers and Michigan State fell out.

Here are some other tidbits from the AP Top 25 this week:

ROUGH WEEK TO BE RANKED

Fourteen of the Top 25 teams lost last week, including seven to unranked schools. That tends to happen a lot in conference play where teams know each other better.

MOVING ON UP

One week after getting ranked for the first time in school history, South Dakota climbed up to No. 23. The Coyotes won their lone game, routing Western Illinois 83-61.

TOP 25 SHOWDOWNS

There are a bunch of big games this week, starting Monday night when Notre Dame visits N.C. State and Oregon plays at No. 12 Oregon State. Later in the week, No. 16 Kentucky plays 13th-ranked South Carolina and No. 17 Arizona State visits Stanford.

The top 25 teams in The Associated Press' women's college basketball poll, with first-place votes in parentheses, records through Feb. 17, total points based on 25 points for a first-place vote through one point for a 25th-place vote and last week's ranking:

Others receiving votes: Rutgers 29, Missouri 29, West Virginia 19, Minnesota 11, UCLA 9, Michigan St. 7, Boise St. 5, Clemson 4, Kansas St 4, South Dakota St. 4, BYU 4, Florida Gulf Coast 1, Cent Michigan 1, DePaul 1.